COUNCILLORS are saying it with flowers in their attempt to improve homes in York.

Daffodils and other blooms could be planted as an incentive for council tenants to keep their flats clean and tidy.

City of York councillors are being presented with a plan to turn council flats into "York Pride Blocks".

"We are deeply concerned that some blocks of council flats are not very harmonious in terms of the residents living in them, in some of the cases standards are being let down by one or two," said council leader Steve Galloway.

"A solution is to get all the tenants working together, we would designate some blocks of flats where they want to voluntarily achieve higher standards, and we would make commitments to them."

A report presented to the executive member for housing and advice panel said: "The aim is for residents to see a real difference in the quality of the environment and to feel safer in their own communities."

The scheme aims to try to improve areas and properties which have a low take-up rate among tenants, making them cleaner and more attractive and reducing the number of refusals.

"It may also help to reduce the number of people who wish to move out of the flats, which will help in achieving more balanced and sustainable communities," said the report.

There would not be any additional charges for tenants in one of the beacon blocks but they would have additional responsibilities.

These would include:

ensuring communal areas and stairs are cleaned each week

maintaining planted areas

not acting antisocially

reporting repairs promptly.

In return the flats would have selected letting, possibly with letting conditions such as over 40s only or under 25s.

They would also have improved maintenance with communal windows cleaned four times a year, plants for communal gardens and maintenance for stronger doors and entry systems.

To qualify for the award, flats would already need to be clean and have well maintained planted areas. The status would be granted on a yearly basis.

The scheme is estimated to cost around £20,000 each year to run. Half of this is for flower planting and window cleaning, the rest is for the maintenance programme of door replacement.

Councillors are recommended to accept the proposal.

Updated: 11:04 Monday, November 24, 2003